UK / Sweden - LumenRadio has confirmed another OEM partnership - this time with London based Event Concept. Event Concept is an accredited production supplier to some of London's most sought after venues. They have recently expanded to include their own R&D facility to meet the demands of their partners who often have unique needs to place directional lighting in historically significant buildings.
Event Concept have already put this partnership to work and launched their first in-house designed fixture - the Concept 6 SD, the next step in wireless battery light technology. Developed to meet a host of new applications for battery lighting, Event Concept senior hire manager, Stephen McGuinness, comments, "We have just commissioned the second batch of 200 units as the lamp has
Norway - Hajfell is hosting the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships this winter and, with the original sound system installed 20 years ago for the Lillehammer Winter Olympics, the Hafjell Nationalanlegg decided a new system was required. The investment is part of a major overall upgrade of the national slalom slope, financed by the Norwegian government.
Hafjell is located just north of Lillehammer and is one of Norway's largest ski areas, with a starting point 1030m above sea level and a vertical drop of 835m. During the Winter Olympics in 1994 it was the venue for the slalom and giant slalom events and is the now the national arena and training facility for these disciplines. Following the Olympics, the resort was further developed and currently consists of 30 trails serviced by a cable car, three chair lifts and 11 ski lifts. Hafjell and its co-owned neighbouring venue t
Sweden - W-DMX by Wireless Solution once again played an important role in the recent Lights in Alingsaas event in Sweden. The event is Northern Europe's largest lighting workshop in public spaces, attracting more than 85,000 visitors every year.
Beginning in the year 2000, leading lighting designers and companies have been invited to Alingsas to demonstrate their expertise, network and hold workshops. For five weeks, the dark evenings of Sweden are transformed into beautiful lighting installations around the town.
It started in 1999 when students from HDK, Jönköping University and Gothenburg University gathered in Alingsas to experiment with different lighting designs for public buildings. The following year, the municipality entered into agreements with the Professional Lighting Designers' Association - PLDA, who have brought the international world of lighting design to A
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LD Systems ICOA PRO series – high-performance coaxial PA speakers for professional demands
The popular ICOA PA systems have been further developed to include two active full-range coaxial speakers – ICOA PRO 12 A and ICOA PRO 15 A – as well as the active 21″ bass-reflex PA subwoofer ICOA PRO SUB 21 A. With its professional features and high output power, the ICOA PRO series is aimed at ambitious bands, musicians and DJs as well as hire companies and commercial customers looking for a compact, robust and powerful PA sound system. The ICOA PRO series is rounded off with modern connection and control options via Bluetooth 5.1 and the specially developed ICOA PRO app, for use on smartphones and tablets.
South Africa - Within just six hours of ticket sales opening, the Pretoria leg of Afrikaans is Groot was sold out. The Cape Town leg followed suit with its three performances selling out by the end of that day.
With the calibre of such artists as Juanita Du Plessis, Theuns Jordaan, Steve Hofmeyr, Bobby van Jaarsveld, Bok van Blerk, Robbie Wessels, Lianie May, Karlien van Jaarsveld, Jay, Riana Nel, Jannie Moolman, Arno Jordaan, Jak de Priester, Corlea Botha, EDEN, Dewald Wasserfall and more, the show promised to be a hit.
Featuring this amount of talent meant that the set and production for both the Moreleta Park Church Auditorium and the Grand Arena, GrandWest, had to be on point. Designed by Michael Gill and built by Gearhouse SDS, the set was the perfect balance of light and metal finishes. With concentric circles and strips of light built into the stage, the focus was drawn
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ETC Halcyon Silent
High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features.
USA - At Aspen Ridge Church in Evergreen, Colo., steerable Meyer Sound CAL 32 column array loudspeakers cut through a reverberant room to bring exceptional music and speech clarity for the congregants. The result shows that even and intelligible audio coverage is possible in sonically challenging spaces when acoustical treatment is not an option.
"I've been blown away by the sound quality, and since our worship space doubles as a gymnasium during the week, I'm extremely impressed by the way the CAL directs sound right where the people are, and not on the walls and ceiling," states Kerry Cox, the church's associate pastor of worship arts. "We wanted to make the room sound right, and CAL really fits the bill. I was also happy to replace the old cluster with the sleek CAL loudspeakers, which really cleaned up the look of the stage."
South Africa - DWR Distribution is hosting its first Fall Arrest and Basic Training, presented by Jacobus Myburgh from Gravity Training in Johannesburg. The three day training kicks off today and ends on 20 February.
With a background in the hospitality industry, having managed hotels and venues both locally and internationally, Myburgh can relate to the events and entertainment market. When a new door opened for him to join Gravity Training, he received extensive training on rope access, rigging, climbing with a harness and safety.
The aim is to train technicians, riggers and all those who work on elevated platforms with the tools required to conduct a possible rescue. Subjects covered include falls and fall factors, shock absorbing lanyards, connectors, helmets, anchors, slings and wire strops, work positioning lanyards, rescue and practical training.
The three day course,
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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal
Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.
With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.
UK - Lighting designer, Ben Inskip selected Jands' flagship Vista L5 console to control his technically ambitious design for British metalcore band, Bring Me the Horizon, who recently played London's SSE Arena, Wembley.
Ben has had success for some time touring on Bring Me the Horizon's (BMTH) shows with a portable Vista setup consisting of S1 & M1 wings, combined with a Macbook Air, but selected the Jands Vista L5 for this particular arena performance, which was the band's biggest show to date.
In addition to having plenty of computing power to deal with the demands of today's largest shows, the Vista L5's sleek design is dominated by a stunning 21 inch High Definition Wacom tablet that provides a crisp, detailed image of the same Vista v2 software that is used across the entire Vista console family.
"Having used an L5 on some previous Australian shows, I really got to
The Netherlands / Israel - Kramer Electronics made two new product introductions aimed at long-distance, reliable and high-performance transmission at ISE 2015. Kramer is among the first to incorporate Valens' Colligo chipsets.
The TP-590RXR and TP-590TXR are "ground breaking" range extenders that let users connect any device over a single twisted pair cable without compromising on quality or performance. Kramer's range of extenders implement the entire set of features supported by HDBaseT 2.0, including USB 2.0.
"Kramer is one of the first to incorporate Valens' Colligo family of chipset in its new extenders. This will significantly expand the reach and functionalities enabled by HDBaseT, and benefits installers worldwide," said Eliran Toren, vice president of sales, at Valens.
"Kramer is at the forefront of developing and manufacturing HDBaseT prod
USA - Once again suburban Chicago was aglow with the holiday spirit as Illumination: The Lights at The Morton Arboretum opened for its annual run, 21 November to 3 January. Visitors to The Arboretum followed a magical one-mile paved path lined by trees that shone with LEDs and responded to touch and sound. Clay Paky Sharpys and new Clay Paky Mythos fixtures - the first in the U.S. - housed in Igloo domes provided innovative lighting effects for the one-of-a-kind holiday display.
The Morton Arboretum was founded in 1922 by Morton Salt magnate Joy Morton whose father inaugurated Arbor Day in the U.S. The annual Illumination event features stunning lighting effects along a one-mile outdoor path through the trees and offers opportunities for visitors to interact with the trees to change the colour and intensity of the lights.
USA - Usher kicked off his current The UR Experience tour in November with Elation Professional's award-winning Sniper multi-effect light used extensively throughout the show as a key accent element including laser simulation. The Sniper, Elation's new beam, scanner and laser simulator in one, and a PLASA Innovation Award winner, has been used on a growing number of shows and special events since its launch last October, both in the U.S. and abroad.
Working from upstage automated ladders, one of the reasons lighting designer and show director Eric Wade says he turned to the high-energy hybrid effect was for its intensity and brightness when compared to the overall rig. Powered by the new 132W Philips MSD Platinum 2R lamp, the Sniper delivers 45,010 lux @ 16.4' (5m), enough to hold its weight among bigger lights.
Associate LD Eric Marchwinski and assistant LD Jason Winfree both
The Netherlands - King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands has opened a prestigious new cultural and historical institution at The Netherlands' former Soesterberg air base. The National Military Museum (NMM) is the largest of its kind in Europe and displays the significance of The Netherlands' armed forces in the past, present and future, with an array of Philips Selecon luminaires lighting the majority of the exhibits.
Amsterdam-based agency Rapenburg Plaza was in charge of the lighting design, AV and control systems for the entire Museum, choosing 42 x Philips Selecon PLcyc1, 12 x PLprofile1 RGBW and 269 x PLfresnel1 RGBW luminaires for key lighting in six of the museum's themed halls.
"The concept for the space is that each of the halls are interactive and follow a storyline," says lighting designer and Rapenburg Plaza partner Pelle Herfst. "We selected Selec
USA - The Fred Bramlage Coliseum, commonly referred to as 'The Octagon of Doom', is a 12,528-seat multi-purpose arena that is home to the men's and women's basketball teams for Kansas State University.
University officials recently decided it was time to upgrade the eight-sided building with new sound and video systems that are in line with state of the art technology. System design company Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams (WJHW) specified a new sound reinforcement system that features EAW QX Series loudspeakers. Promedia UltraSound, located in Martinez, California handled the installation.
"The existing system was an old, large-format, horn-based, scoreboard cluster that had long outlived its usefulness," explains Mark Graham, WJHW. "The goal was to increase the fan experience with higher quality audio and an upgraded center-hung scoreboard and video prese
Germany - Prolight + Sound is set to provide the stage for J&C Joel to unveil a number of exciting new developments and products this April.
J&C Joel, one of the world's leading manufacturers of flame retardant fabrics and flooring for the entertainment and event industries, will also be celebrating its rich textile heritage at the Frankfurt show.
The British company has achieved global reach through an international network of offices and has been providing bespoke theatre curtains, drapes, canvasses, backdrops and stage engineering services for stage shows, events and exhibitions for more than 35 years.
As well as showcasing a number of new products and fabrics, which have been kept a closely guarded secret, the J&C Joel team will be launching its latest catalogue alongside a fresh new look for its website which will feature a number of technical enhancements to help custo
USA - PRG has announced the passing of Board Member and award-winning theatrical producer, Joseph P. Harris. As a producer and general manager, Mr. Harris had been associated with over 200 Broadway productions. He died peacefully at home in Greenwich, CT on Wednesday 11 February at the age of 87.
Mr. Harris was born in Manhattan on July 2, 1927 and moved to Queens during his childhood. He graduated from Forest Hills High School and was drafted into the Army. After returning home from serving as part of the occupation forces under General MacArthur in Japan, he started his theatrical career as the assistant general manager on Finian's Rainbow, in 1948, working alongside his father, the general manager, Charles Harris.
During his 54-year Broadway career, Mr. Harris crossed paths with many artists, including the legendary Bob Fosse, producing Fosse's Chicago and the
UK - Presteigne Broadcast Hire has appointed Neil Coles as its sales manager. A sales professional, he has a solid history in the studios and post production industries, so clearly understands the challenges and opportunities facing Presteigne's clients today.
Working for the past three years as a business development consultant, largely with clients in the broadcast and media sector, he has also driven sales at post house Prime Focus in London, fixed-rig specialist Roll to Record, and Pinewood Studios Group where he was primarily responsible for the light entertainment television studios at Teddington.
"Production companies and their facilities are under tremendous pressure at the moment," said Coles. "On one side they need to produce more content on ever-tighter budgets and with ever-increasing audience expectations. And on the other, there is a continuous str
UK - Illuminate Design worked with the E-luminate festival and Great St Mary's Church in Cambridge to provide lighting for the church as part of the week-long festival.
Lighting designer Malgosia Rozycka put together a complementary plan to light the 500-year-old church using a mix of warm and cold tones with the aim to bring out the different architectural features of the building. Ben Payne from Illuminate Design took Malgosia's design concepts for the festival and worked them into a scheme that was achievable for the week long period of the festival.
As one of the festival's key points was sustainability and energy efficiency, Payne chose 16 RGBW led fixtures as the main form of lighting - with a number of small GU10 and LED Tape fixtures to highlight the various building features. The total running power for the whole lighting project was no more than 75 watts.
UK - Series 2 of the Endemol UK/Remarkable TV show Two Tribes, hosted by Richard Osman, is using projection from XL Video.
Working with production designer, Dominic Tolfts, and production manager, Jessica Enderby, XL Video's film & TV manager, Jeff Bailey specified one of XL's high brightness Barco HD20 projectors along with a Repro H projection screen to create the main question screen for the centre of the Two Tribes set.
The Barco unit provides sufficient output to ensure good visual clarity amongst the studio lighting, and Bailey once again selected a Repro H screen surface to avoid hotspots which can be picked up by broadcast cameras.
The question screen is central to Two Tribes, displaying questions asked by the presenter, Richard Osman, which discover what players have in common, and determine the teams for the game.
USA - Electrosonic has opened a new office in the San Francisco Bay Area, which will support Electrosonic clients in the region and serve as a resource for new business development. The Bay Area office is located in Livermore and features 3,000sq.ft of office and warehouse space.
"We are very excited to announce the opening of our new San Francisco Bay Area location," says Jim Bowie, president of the Electrosonic Group. "Over the last few years, Electrosonic has steadily increased the number of our Bay Area clients. This office will support them, keep pace with their evolving needs and help us grow in the region."
The Livermore location is a full-service office providing Bay Area businesses with complete solutions, including audio-visual design consulting, systems integration and operational support.
"Opening our office in the Bay Area allows us to k
USA - CMT's live Ultimate Kickoff Party launched the first College Football Playoffs with a glittering show, which also marked the US TV debut of Clay Paky's new Mythos fixtures, a highly-advanced hybrid light which serves as a 470-watt spotlight and an extraordinary beam light.
Production designer/lighting designer Mike Swinford obtained 146 Mythos fixtures from Nashville-based Morris Light & Sound, which offers a large inventory of the new lights. As a spot, Mythos has an outstanding large beam and zoom optimized for focusing; as a beam light it remains parallel for its entire length even at great distances. Mythos is smooth, fast and very quiet with a completely redesigned indexed visual effects disc.
Swinford and Morris Light & Sound president and CEO David Haskell were introduced to Mythos when A.C.T Lighting vice president of sales and marketing Brian Dowd invited them t
UK - One of the oldest loudspeaker companies in the world, Tannoy is a brand that is synonymous with sound, their pre-war horn technology being such a part of everyday life that the phrase 'over the Tannoy' entered the Oxford English Dictionary to describe a public address system. After being at the forefront loudspeaker technology ever since, the company has produced a brand new product that takes that horn heritage into a whole new area of application.
The Tannoy THL-1 tunnel loudspeaker provides a robust, durable and highly cost-effective solution for Emergency Voice Alarm/Communication (EVAC) systems in the physically and acoustically hostile environment of road tunnels. In an application notorious for high ambient noise levels and excessive reverberation, the THL-1 transmits crisp, controlled and intelligible voice announcements throughout the space from a minimum nu
UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd.'s Video division has supplied the first Green Hippo AViary magpi video playback solution in the UK to Alton Towers Resort, to drive the visual and interactive displays in their popular CBeebies Land - one of the theme park's newest attractions.
Home to a range of themed rides and live entertainment, CBeebies Land is an immersive experience for children and young families. The five-acre site within Alton Towers Resort offers opportunities for kids to interact with some of their favourite characters and TV shows. In addition to rides, CBeebies Land includes play areas, live experiences and character appearances designed to inspire and educate.
Green Hippo's AViary Video Tools range was launched to much acclaim last year, and represents a new approach to realtime high-resolution video playback and control. Drawing upon the manufac